Ice Age-Meltdown (Blu-ray) (2006)

"Should warm viewers' hearts globally.  Claudia Puig, USA Today
"A good-natured, gag-filled sequel.  Jami Bernard, New York Daily News
"The rare sequel that is better than the original.  Lou Lumenick, New York Post
"Raucously fun, fluid follow-up with ecological message.  Luke Sader, The Hollywood Reporter
"...a good movie (especially for kids) with top-of-the-tech CGI.  Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

Editor's Note In this computer-animated sequel to ICE AGE, prehistoric creatures face a new problem: their icy world is melting. Manny (voiced by Ray Romano), seemingly the last woolly mammoth on Earth, and his pals--a saber-toothed tiger named Diego (Denis Leary) and a sloth named Sid (John Leguizamo)--are perfectly content in their ice-covered valley. When con artist Fast Tony (Jay Leno) claims that their home will soon be underwater and the world is about to end, they think he's kidding. But to everyone's surprise, the shady fast talker is right. Manny, Diego, and Sid soon discover that the valley will flood in days. Following the advice of a vulture (Will Arnett) who is hoping for the worst, a bevy of animals begin to make their way to the end of the valley in search of a boat that will save them from the flood. En route, sad sack Manny is startled when he encounters another woolly mammoth, Ellie (Queen Latifah). As happy as Manny is to see another one of his kind, there's a problem: Ellie is convinced that she's a possum like her hyperactive brothers, Crash (Seann William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck). And to make matters worse, the melting of the ice has released some ferocious sea creatures that had literally been frozen in time. Will Ellie finally realize that she's a gigantic woolly mammoth and not a pint-sized possum? Is it really the end of the world? Can Manny and the rest of the animals in the valley survive the impending flood? And will Manny be able to leave the past behind now that he knows he's not alone? Saber-tooth squirrel Scrat and his quest for an acorn once again provide additional comic relief throughout the film.

	Carlos Saldanha - Director
	Denis Leary - Voice Of
	Gerry Swallow, et. al. - Writer
	Jay Leno - Voice Of
	John Leguizamo - Voice Of
	John Powell - Original Music By
	Lori Forte - Producer
	Queen Latifah - Voice Of
	Ray Romano - Voice Of
	Seann William Scott - Voice Of
	Stephen Root - Voice Of
	Thomas Cardone - Art Director
	Will Arnett - Voice Of

Entertainment Weekly
"ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN blithely looks on the bright side of life, amassing a screen full of vultures to sing and dance 'Food Glorious Food' and daring us not to get happy." -- Grade: B 04/07/2006 p.42-43

Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his sequel confidently juggles its humorous elements with well-handled action beats..." 06/01/2006 p.54

USA Today
"With its appealing combination of humor and endearing characters -- many of whom are back from the first film -- it is at least as good as the original ICE AGE, and possibly better." 03/31/2006 p.4E

Sight and Sound
"Overall, this is the best CGI picture since Pixar's THE INCREDIBLES..." 06/01/2006 p.54

Widescreen Review
"[The] colors are beautifully rendered and well balanced, with very good contrast." 02/01/2007 p.72

eFilmCritic.com 9 of 10
I can't say that I didn't enjoy "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown" because I did. I smiled at most of the jokes, but once again I regretted Ray Romano's lack of vocal variety (Romano is Manny, the mammoth), and the fact that Denis Leary, as Diego the saber-tooth, wasn't given much to do. I mean, if you don't want a smirking, sardonic performance in a major role, don't cast a comic who is known for being smirking and sarcastic to play it...Scrat is essentially soundless, emitting only grunts, gasps, and growls in his pursuit in what appears to be the only acorn BCE. Chuck Jones would have been proud to be Scrat's papa, which, in a way, he was. - Doug Bentin

Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
Only Scrat, the ferocious little sabre-toothed squirrel, retains his magic from the original "Ice Age" (2002). Most of the other characters are back in "Ice Age: The Meltdown," but their story is more of a slog than a sprint. Remarkable, that they're still around although tens of thousands of years must have passed since the previous film...The movie is nice to look at, the colors and details are elegant, the animals engaging, the action fast-moving, but I don't think older viewers will like it as much as the kids. The first "Ice Age" movie more or less exhausted these characters and their world, and the meltdown doesn't add much. Most of the conflict involves personalities: Can these species co-exist? Well, of course they can, in a cartoon. - Roger Ebert

Variety 8 of 10
A tad crasser and pushier than its predecessor, "Ice Age: The Meltdown" is still an entirely serviceable follow-up to the 2002 hit that will thoroughly amuse kids and get a rise or two out of parents as well...Style and approach of the sequel are of a piece with the original picture, on which present helmer Carlos Saldanha was co-director (to Chris Wedge, who's now exec producer). Lori Forte remains as producer. New writers Peter Gaulke, Gerry Swallow and Jim Hecht supply plenty of decent jokes that Romano, Leguizamo and Leary deliver with every bit of drollery they can summon, but there's a small new anxiety to please that differentiates the tone somewhat from the first outing. Not that the small fry will notice. - Todd McCarthy